Archive for the ‘Experience’ Category

On August 23rd, our San Francisco office cleared their calendars (for the most part, pending client commitments) and committed, as a group, to a full day of giving back, capped off by a team outing at a local watering hole.

In the morning, they gathered in the SF office to stuff care packages for soldiers as part of our client Crown Royal’s “Packages from Home” initiative. The mission of “Packages From Home” is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes who are stationed in active duty locales around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate morale of all veterans.

Over 250 bright purple Crown Royal-emblazed felt baggies were stuffed to the gills with goodies like Slim Jims, Oreos, Fruit Snacks, Pringles, Pop Tarts, Crystal Lite On-The-Go, Peanut Butter packets, toothbrushes and mouthwash, and most importantly, a signed postcard of gratitude and well wishes.

Next up, the MKTGers got to tap into their creative sides while partnering with Meals on Wheels SF to make over 100 birthday cards for the seniors in their immediate community. The team is known for their incredible attention to details when working for clients like Facebook and Google, so you can be sure they cards and messages made a huge difference in the senior neighbor’s days!

Finally, at about 1:30 they team headed out to SPARK Social, a food truck park, for a customized team building game of Survivor where they competed against one another as five tribes all in the quest to take home a fancy trophy and the ultimate bragging rights.

Chicago’s very own Julian Jones’ brilliance was featured in the feature film “Animator” that debuted earlier this month at the Black Harvest Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

His mom Roberta Jones, wrote and produced the film that was shot entirely in Chicago. She enlisted Julian, whose hobby is animated storytelling, to create all of the animations for the film. The Chicago Sun Times’ Richard Roeper heralded “Animator” saying “this is a well-paced, good-looking film with some absolutely gorgeous animation and fine performances from the two leads and the supporting cast.”

At Black Harvest Film Festival, Chicago the setting for 5 fine films

Aug. 30 with screenings of movies about African Americans and the African diaspora and post-show discussions with their makers. Here’s a look at five worth seeing, all made in Chicago:

‘Animator’

8:30 p.m. Aug. 17, 8:15 p.m. Aug. 21

“Animator” | PROVIDED PHOTO

In this fictional gem, writer and producer Roberta Jones and director Logan Hall spin the intriguing story of a man who strikes a Faustian bargain, becomes drunk on selfish wish-fulfillment and loses sight of what matters.

Levenix Riddle is outstanding as Neal, a talented but struggling illustrator who is given the ability to control his destiny (and the fates of others) through mystical powers handed down through generations of West-African griots, or storytellers.

Quite simply put, if Neal draws something in his notebook and signs his name to the illustration, that thing will happen.

When his buddy laments how a beautiful co-worker doesn’t even notice him, Neal draws a picture of the two kissing — and it happens.

Low on funds, Neal draws a pic of himself withdrawing a thick stack of cash from the ATM — and bingo, the cash is there when he actually goes to an ATM.

Mackenzie Chinn does fine work as Neal’s love interest, Tina, who is startled and not altogether happy when Neal reveals his secret to her. Things take a dark turn and reach the point of possible tragedy, and now Neal faces a life-and-death decision.

This is a well-paced, good-looking film with some absolutely gorgeous animation and fine performances from the two leads and the supporting cast. Rating:★★★

Fashion taps the art world for elevated collaborations

80% of global youth say that art/design is important to their life so it is no surprise that the realms of art and fashion, who have long enjoyed a rich and symbiotic history continue this trend. We’re seeing an increase in the number of co-branded fashion and art collaborations as brands recontextualize the cultural significance of important artworks for creating clothing and accessories that are simple in appearance with a lot going on beneath the surface.

These imaginative and unexpected partnerships are proving to be sweet spots for brands – and consumers. They create consumer demand, fuels cross-industry outcome and of course, offers the freshest styles.

MKTG’s very own super strategist Bibi Persaud was invited by the 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies) to be the featured guest at their new 4A’s Culture Club Breakfast series – morning motivational conversations that are intimate and casual and meant to spark conversation.

In conjunction with Women’s Equality Day, as a female leader, the 4As invited Bibi to share her personal journey and reflect on the lessons she’s learned throughout her career journey.

Bibi talked about what it means to be a multicultural female in the industry – and in the world – in a candid and real way, yet, filled with inspiration and rich dialogue. She also talked about how her daughters are teaching her about the world they’d like to grow up in.

Bibi happily reported that the conversation was honest and engaging and was very well-received – a provocative conversation that left everyone inspired to start their day. The audience was comprised of mostly women across the organization and it was wonderful to see men join this incredibly active conversation.

Many thanks to the 4As for inviting Bibi to help lead this important conversation! Bibi rocks.

“The New York City-based Dentsu Aegis-owned agency is pumping up support of work-life balance in its offices with a new employee-targeted program called Get A Life. Staffers are given $500 to spend on their own personal development—whether it be surf lessons, a gym membership or an academic course or class. The agency “feels that supporting our folks outside the office and encouraging them to try new things is imperative.” Beefing up its b-to-b offerings as b-to-c clients have asked for some of MKTG’s “special sauce” to plus-up their business events.”

Thanks to everyone at MKTG, our amazing clients and partners for helping make this happen. #MyMKTG

Over this past weekend, the MKTG team helped Biofreeze emerge into the marketplace by making a cool appearance at the 2018 San Francisco Marathon! At the expo, the Biofreeze Secret Weapon Room provided runners and supporters the opportunity to view course secrets, customize race gear and take a photo that was later compiled into a Biofreeze mosaic at the finish line.

We did not stop there. Biofreeze showed up loud and proud at three different locations on-course. At mile 19.5, runners passed through the “relief zone” to feel product’s instant relief which helped them achieve their personal best. Overall, a successful weekend for Biofreeze as they supported the runners achieve their personal best. Up next: Chicago and New York!

For the fourth year running, MKTG developed and produced the only live statewide day of learning for teachers offered in the state of California – and it was free!

This year’s “Better Together: The California Teachers Summit” theme “It’s Personal: Meeting the Needs of Every Student” brought together new and seasoned teachers to strengthen their teacher network, share resources and experience what it looks like to personalize learning for their students within a day of personalized learning for themselves.

Thousands of teachers joined in person and via livestream at 30+ colleges and universities across California, with #BetterTogetherCA trending on Twitter again this year.

The team pulled out all of the stops! From concepting and producing the entire program they excelled at working with the client to develop the agenda, hire the keynote speaker, laisse with all presenters, develop invites, handle registration, develop collateral, and create this new dynamic Online Resource Guide and nearly 200 slides of content, simulcasting the entire event live to all locations, gathering questions for the live teacher panel, delivering the keynote’s Q&As via posted videos, and even closed the show with a sizzle reel containing content from the day of the event!

One of the highlights of this year’s event was a keynote by Sir Ken Robinson that took place at CSU Fullerton and was simulcast to all sites. Sir Ken is an internationally acclaimed expert on creativity and innovation and author of, “Finding Your Element”, “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything” and “Out of Our Minds.” His TED talk on developing an education system that nurtures creativity holds the illustrious title of “most popular TED talk of all time.” In fact, videos of his famous talks to the prestigious TED Conference are the most viewed in the history of the organization and have been seen by an estimated 300 million people in over 150 countries!

A teacher, writer, researcher and adviser, Sir Ken spoke about the need for a learning revolution. He also made the case for a radical shift in education — from standardizing learning to personalizing learning — so that all students’ natural talents can flourish. Sir Ken’s remarks at CSU Fullerton were simulcast to all 30 sites across California. If you’d like to see Sir Ken’s talk, please email info@mktg.com and we’ll send you the link once it’s ready.

As part of our MKTG ongoing initiative to give back, our Crown Royal team brought together MKTG and DAN agencies for the opportunity to support Crown Royal’s partner “Packages from Home,” a program that encourages consumers to support overseas US troops by creating care packages through stuffing specially-branded Crown Royal bags with their top needs. The mission of Packages From Home is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes who are stationed in active duty locales around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate morale of all veterans.

MKTG lead the effort and reached out to all DAN US Agencies asking them to participate, commit at least $500 in supplies and guarantee volunteers. The response was awesome. We’re thrilled to report that 651 goodie bags and personalized notes were pulled together last Thursday at many MKTG and DAN offices across the US, as well as the DAN HQ in midtown Manhattan. With another two offices to go, we are expecting to pack over 1,250 bags! The goodie bags (plush royal purple drawstring bags) were stuffed to the gills with treats like Slim Jims, Oreos, Fruit Snacks, Pringles, Pop Tarts, Crystal Lite On-The-Go, Peanut Butter packets, and most importantly, a signed postcard of gratitude and well wishes.

Many thanks to everyone that participated, especially those that took the time to organize the many elements needed to make this important initiative a success. Enjoy the photos below from the various offices having fun while giving back.

For the second year running, a team of ten riders from MKTG NYC and Westport took to their bikes to raise money for cancer survivors of all ages through the organization MISSION (yourmission.org). Called the CT Challenge, the MKTG Gearheads raised DOUBLE what was raised last year, a whopping $6,875, to help MISSION send kids to summer camp, aid in college tuition, run confidence-building adventure trips for young adults and supply young cancer survivors visits to Mission’s Training Center.

Many thanks to our riders, and the numerous MKTG employees who came out to volunteer starting early in the am and extending into the evening celebration!

If you know an Australian, you know they have a case of wanderlust and love to travel. There are many theories about why this is, but why question it? For anyone that’s met an Australian while out traveling, backpacking, pub hopping, I’m sure we all agree that we are happy that they have that homegrown trait as they’re a heck of a lot of fun!

In the spirit of adventure and collaboration and giving our employees great experiences, our friends at MKTG Australia have developed a program called The Global Employee Experience Program, or GEEP. The purpose of the program is to give one chosen employee each year the opportunity to work for two weeks outside of Australia on major client projects or events taking place during the chosen period. Their aim is to be a valuable addition to the team they join, as well as learning while being productive. They will develop learnings they can then bring back to enhance the team’s capabilities and offerings and will be required to chronicle their journey on social as well as present to the entire staff their learnings and what they reckon their team could do differently. It’s also an opportunity for the employee to develop professionally, develop their network and to deliver real and meaningful value back to the Australian team.

Out of the 12 outstanding submissions, a team of unbiased judges from around the world deliberated, and in the end, came to a unanimous vote in Monique (Mon) Horan! Congratulations Monique!

Please take a moment to view Monique submission video and we think you’ll see why the judges felt she’d be a great GEEP Ambassador. And get to know Mon a bit better by following her on Instagram @monhoran.

We will be welcoming Monique to New York City and Westport as soon as we determine the best two week period for her to be here working alongside our teams. We also will work closely as a global team with Matt Connell who runs MKTG Australia to learn from his first go around in the hopes to take those learnings and launch this program in a much larger way.